Apple relents, begins selling “old” Final Cut Studio again

The launch of Final Cut Pro X was controversial among pro users, who continue …

Just over two months after the controversial launch of Final Cut Pro X, Apple has made "old" Final Cut Studio available once again to the public. But don't go looking for the suite at the Apple Store down the block or even the company's online store—those who want to purchase the legacy software will have to call 1-800-MY-APPLE (hey, 1996 called…) in order to get it.

Confirmed by MacRumors, Final Cut Studio can be purchased for $999 (or $899 for educational buyers). That's the same price the suite was being sold for as of July 2009, but $700 more than its newer replacement, Final Cut Pro X. Final Cut Studio wasn't just Final Cut Pro though—it included Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color 1.5 and Compressor 3.5, which was one of the many reasons why professional users were extremelyirked at the abrupt changes and discontinuations. Add to that the plethora of complaints about the near complete lack of backwards compatibility and drastic UI changes between Final Cut Pro 7 and X, and pro users were practically waving pitchforks outside of 1 Infinite Loop.

The outrage, it seems, has worked. Those who want to purchase the older software can now do so by calling Apple's phone sales line. What's unclear is whether Apple will continue to support users on Final Cut Studio; we hardly expect regular software updates (or any software updates, for that matter), but the company must be willing to offer some level of user support if it's willing to keep selling the suite, right? Of course, there will be some pro users who are still dissatisfied with the results—more than 8,000 people signed a petition that demanded the source code to Final Cut Pro 7 be sold to a third party, after all.

Update: An Apple spokesperson told The Loop that the company has "a limited quantity of Final Cut Studio still available through Apple telesales to customers who need them for ongoing projects." Sounds as if the current situation with the side-by-side sale of Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Pro X is unlikely to be permanent.